Many of the packaging and shipment containers, cartons, and products that are in use today are made of panels which have been crushed and recessed to cushion and receive articles for storage and shipment. One such product is the honeycomb carton disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,972 to Jaegers et al. entitled "Prestressed Honeycomb, Method And Apparatus Therefor" which includes crushed honeycomb panels for cushioning the articles. The panels that form the carton were previously made in a vertical press.
Another such product is the roll spacer disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/497,947 to Bourgeois et al. filed on Jul. 3, 1995 entitled "Honeycomb Roll Spacer". The roll spacer is made of a panel including a honeycomb core sandwiched between opposite face sheets. A portion of the panel includes a longitudinal recess in which a portion of the honeycomb core and one of the face sheets has been compressively deformed and crushed to a predetermined depth. The recess is generally concavely shaped to receive and cushion a roll of web material such as paper, steel, coppers etc in either a horizontal or vertical orientation for transport by truck, rail, or the like.
The spacer described above was previously manufactured using a vertical press with a longitudinally extending semi-elliptically shaped cushioning element which is pressed into the honeycomb panel to form the recess.
Other products made of honeycomb panels such as pallets include a center portion which is crushed and recessed to allow the forks of a forklift to slide under the pallet. The pallet was also made using a vertical press.
A disadvantage associated with the use of such vertical presses is the risk of abrasion, piercing and cutting of the face sheet of the panel as a result of the crushing element being brought down in a single step into contact with the honeycomb panel Another disadvantage is the risk of uneven deformation and damage to the partition walls of the honeycomb core as a result of the honeycomb core being compressed to a predetermined depth in one step. Yet another disadvantage is that the use of a press is a labor-intensive, time-consuming, inefficient manufacturing process particularly where large quantities of products are required to be made.
What is needed is a continuous in-line apparatus for crushing honeycomb panels in which neither the face sheets or the honeycomb core are damaged during the compression of the honeycomb panel. What is also needed is an in-line apparatus which provides for the efficient and economical production of large quantities of roll spacers, pallets and other honeycomb products comprising crushed or recessed honeycomb panels. The in-line apparatus of the present invention meets these desires.